1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a surgical apparatus for retaining and supporting parts of the body in exposed presentation for accessibility by the surgeon while performing an operation thereon. A preferred form of the invention contemplates such apparatus as a mouth gag which is supported independently of the body and affords a wide range of readily accomplished adjustability without the loss of surgical exposure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The mouth gag in wide use prior to this invention, known as the Dingman mouth gag, has the serious disadvantages of its frame being positioned in such close proximity to the patient's face that it limits the area in which the surgeon and his assistants can work to the extent that the frame actually creates an obstruction, and of the support for the frame being solely derived from the patient's jaw structure. Consequently, exposure by jaw retractors is clumsy, difficult, if not impossible, to adjust during the operation without losing surgical exposure, and limited in scope. Also, the forces exerted ultimately cause additional and undesirable stress to be applied to the patient's jaws. To overcome some of these drawbacks and provide the necessary and adequate exposure, auxiliary retractors have been hand-held by assistants which practice has proven unsatisfactory because of the fatigue factor causing difficulty in applying for any length of time a consistent and uniform force.
There is also an urgent need for a mouth gag for use in facial reconstruction involving an unstable jaw, that is, a jaw hinged at only one side due to injury to or degenerative disease of the other side, also where the patient's teeth and distinct gumline are lacking, and in cases of facial bone grafts in the repair of congenital anomolies, and to support fracture bone fragments while performing a facial repair, the Dingman mouth gag being totally inoperative for such applications.